Voice Like a Bird
by kaoticmonst
Summary: Maria De Luca is an orphan who has recently been fired from the factory where she has worked for six years. When she tries her hand at being a newsie, friendship and adventure ensues.
1. Prologue

April 20, 1893

Lower Manhattan

"Maria, where are they taking us?" the small voice of her brother squeaked out.

Maria turned and looked at him, sighing and putting an arm around his shoulders.

"I don't know, Will, but it'll be fine, I promise," she answered.

Maria's day had taken a turn for the worse just a few short hours before, while she was at home with her brother and the other children who lived in their tenement. They had been playing games or reading, or doing anything to entertain them while their parents were at work. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door, which the only adult in the room, Mrs. Romano, answered promptly. None of the children moved, unless to get closer to the door to hear what was going on.

When Mrs. Romano invited the visitors in and called for Maria and Will to follow, however, everybody turned away from the action and went back to their games, now afraid of what was happening. The visitors were two men, nicely dressed, especially for the area. They identified themselves as Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith, from the factory that their parents worked at.

"Maria, Will, I'm afraid we have some bad news," Mr. Moore stated.

"You see, there was an accident at the factory…" Mr. Smith continued.

"Which led to a fire…" Mr. Moore said.

"In which both of your parents were killed," Mrs. Romano finished gently.

"Seeing as you have no proper family at the moment, we must take you away from the Romano family and all of the others here. If you would, please, pack your things and come with us," Mr. Moore explained.

The two children did as they were told and then followed the men to the horse-drawn carriage where they currently sat.

After some time, the carriage jerked to a stop and Maria and Will were being led into the giant building towering over them. There were big doors, which were opened by two men standing near the entrance, which led to a large open room with a large staircase. They were ushered up those stairs and into an empty office and told to wait there.

A few minutes later, a man walked into the room and sat down at the desk in front of the children. He stared at them, studying their faces and their expressions until, finally, he spoke.

"Because your parents were killed in my factory, I have to find something do with you two. Now, the only thing that comes to mind for you, Will, is for you to become a newsboy," he said, spitting the last word as if it were the most revolting thing he could think of. "But, Maria, I can't decide what to do with you, other than have you work in my factory."

"But, if Will is a newsie and I work in the factory…will we ever see each other?" Maria asked, a little bit scared.

"Well, it's possible, but certainly not likely," the man said.

Maria and Will exchanged a worried glance, which the man scoffed at.

"Moore, Smith, take the children to where they are supposed to be. Take the girl to the lodging house on Thompson, and take the boy to the lodging house in Brooklyn," he said, annoyed.

* * *

**Yeah...look, I'm sorry, this chapter is awful. I apologize. But, I promise, the next chapter is better! I just felt like I needed a prologue to this story. So, thanks for reading, and if you liked it, REVIEW or if not, you should still review and tell me what I need to fix and stuff.**


	2. First Day

July 19, 1899

"Um, twenty papers, please," Maria said to the man behind the counter.

"Twenty papes!" the man echoed to the boys behind him.

They handed the girl her newspapers as she slid a dime across the counter and started to walk off, but was unsure of where to go to. She looked around and bit her lip; she didn't know what to do.

"Hey! Dollface, you'se need some help?" Maria turned around to see one of the newsies coming towards her with his papers under his arm. He had light brown hair and an unlit cigar in his mouth and had no trouble keeping it from falling out.

"Um, yeah, actually, I do. I'm new and don't really know what I'm doing," she answered when he got close enough.

"Ain't you s'posed ta be woikin' at a factory or somethin'? I mean, no offense, but it's just, dat's what most goils do," he said.

"I did for a little while, but I was fired yesterday, and didn't want to spend any more time working in a sweatshop. So, I figured this might be easy, but so far," she paused and looked around, "it doesn't seem like it."

"I can show you'se how, if ya want," the boy said, then tucked his cigar behind his ear and stuck his hand out as Maria nodded. "Me names Race."

Maria raised an eyebrow, but took his hand and shook it. "I'm Maria. So, where do you go to sell?" she asked.

"Well, usually, I'se goes ta Sheepshead and sells 'round there. Then I take me money and bet it on the races," he said. "But if you ain't okay with that, we'se can go somewhere else and sell, if ya want."

"Oh, no, please, pretend I'm not even here. Unless I need help, which I most likely will the entire time. Then I need you to acknowledge my existence," she said, smiling.

"Eh, it ain't that hard. See, what ya gotta do is make up a real good headline, unless there's already a good one o' two. Since we'se is sellin' near the races, look and see if there's any stories 'bout the horses," he said as they started to walk towards Sheepshead.

Maria flipped through the paper for a good headline. She stopped on a page and said, "How about this one? 'Crowd Favorite Gets Sick, Can't Compete.'"

"Wait, what? Where's dat story?" Race asked, turning towards her.

"It's not in there, I made it up!" Maria said, laughing.

Race chuckled and hit her with a newspaper. "Dat's good, you'se is good. I told ya you'se would be fine," he said smiling.

**Yeah, so...it took a while to update, but I think it's a lot better than the prologue, which makes me feel better. It would be really cool if you could review or something if you like it. I've been looking at the story and profile stats page, and that makes me really happy to see that people are actually reading my stuff. **


	3. Great Ending to a Great Day

"How come you'se made so much money?" Race asked, having just left the races with Maria. They had sold pretty well that day, Race obviously earned more than her, because he had more to sell. When they got to the races and got to betting on the horses, Maria had doubled her earnings for the day, and Race had lost about half of his.

Maria giggled and said, "I don't know, I guess…I just have good luck!"

Race playfully bumped into her as they kept walking.

"So, uh, you'se said you'se gots a place ta stay, right? I wanna make sure you'se is gonna be okay," he said.

"Yeah, I stay at the Girl's Lodging House on Thomson. If we take a turn here..." she trailed off as they rounded the corner and it came into view. She pointed and said, "That's home. Or, it's close enough."

Race walked her up to the doorstep, took off his hat, and bowed. "It's been a pleasure to spend my day with you, Miss," he said with mock extravagance.

"The feeling is mutual," Maria said and, playing along, curtsied.

They both started laughing as Maria opened the door. "See you'se tomorrow?" Race asked.

"Sure thing, Race. See you tomorrow," she said before she closed the door.

Race smiled as he put his hat back on and turned to walk back to his lodging house.

* * *

"Hey, Race! Where were you taday?" Specs asked as Race bounded up the stairs.

"Da races, like always," he answered simply.

"Yeah, but you'se left real early. And ya never go to Sheepshead alone, so," Specs smiled and said, "who'd ya meet?"

"It was uh, it was a goil…" he mumbled, hoping the others wouldn't hear.

Specs' smile widened and he said, "Ooh, Race's got a goilfriend!"

Race quickly shushed him. "She ain't my goilfriend, we only met taday. And I don't even know if she likes me like dat."

"Yeah, you're right, who could like you?" Specs joked.

Race hit him with his hat and climbed up onto his bunk to go to bed. All he could think about was Maria: when he closed his eyes he saw her face, or when he was just about to fall asleep, he would imagine her laugh and think about her for five minutes more. He couldn't wait to see her again the next day, and get to know her better. When he finally drifted off to sleep, he had dreams about her. They were dreams about going to the races with her again, or just walking around with her. When the time came to get up, he got dressed and ready the fastest, ready for another day with her.


End file.
